Our HCM trip - Day 1 & 2

We woke up early at 5am on Labour day so as to catch the 7.25am flight out of Singapore to the historical HCMC. Pretty excited as it will be a so-called family trip with Mom and Dad and Sis as well. Sis is "gracious" enough to go on this trip with us... haha. Coz she will be taking budget airline (1st time) and staying in budget hotel instead of taking the usual SQ and staying in at least 4 stars hotel. This is also dear dear's 1st time going on hols with my parents. A different hols experience altogether for all of us.

Enroute to airport, we picked Maria (ex-colleague) as well and we reached airport at slightly past 6am (can't rem e exact time). Of coz at 5.55am, sis smsed to say she has reached with M&D. Faint... they actually got out of the house at 5.15am whereas yours truly only called the cabby at 5.30am. Hy & Sy arrived shortly as well. Big group we have, a total of 10. We checked in and here we come Vietnam! Flight was smooth and we had fun on the flight as well. Upon arrival, HCMC Int'l airport "blow" me away. It has been renovated with nice interior, air-con and the custom was very smooth! Far away from what I have in mind of the 1 year ago scene, with no air-con, unfriendly custom officers and rundown place. Oh and they have air bridge connecting the plane! 1 year ago, I remembered we have to walk down the plane and across to the gate. Haha! Big difference now. Baggage claim was a breeze as well! Since we arranged for airport transfer, we were being picked up and off we go to the budget hotel. The hotel was something I have never expect or imagine. It is like a lodge with no lift! We have to climb up and down everyday, on avg will be between 7 to 10 floors of our normal HDB flat. Imagine you are staying on the 10th floor and the lift breaks down and you have to climb. Well, we have been doing that for 4 days. Good exercise though! Something about the hotel that makes it interesting is every room is different, in terms of layout. We were so excited that we forgotten to take pics of each room, you can view from the website (www.bisaigon.com). 1st encounter we got when we were there. The hotel person make a big boo-boo and she reserved 1 room short for us and wanted us to downgrade. I of course was super unhappy. Show her proof of emails that we have been corresponding and all. In the end, she got us 4 junior suites (as reserved) and upgrade 1 of us to executive suite. Heehee... but there's a catch, the pair staying at executive suite got to change back to junior suite during the last night. So we agreed and since I booked the room, I have the priviledge and permission from everyone that I will take the executive suite. So nice!

After check-in, we went for lunch. My parents, sis & mom's friend were so fast! They changed and less than 5mins were already sitting downstairs waiting for all of us. Maria and Agnes(m's friend) were taking their own sweet time. (Oh oh) Hy & Sy were also slowing making their way down. Mom was so unhappy... i think there's something when traveling with mom or rather my family. We are those who never want to waste time. I have to of course tell mom to give Sy a bit of time as she's pregnant and she got to climb down 10 floors. Well, she's ok with that i think. Finally we went off to eat. Haiz... disappointing lunch at the Saigon restaurant. Guess, vietnamese are not train to handle big crowd. Got our orders wrong and soooooo ooooo slow. Well shall not elaborate on it. After lunch, we went R&R to explore the place and I went to book our tickets to Mekong Delta the next day. Went Ben Thanh market to shop too and dinner at the transformed Ben Thanh market at night. Oh the bbq big head prawns and fresh stir fry clams sure make our night. After dinner, more shopping at the transformed market. Oh yah! Got to mention that Sis and Mom got so fascinated by the horrendous traffic in HCM and they got so excited whenever we have to cross the road. Haha!

That kind of sums up our day 1 of our trip.

Day 2 was good as we were on guided tour to Mekong Delta. Bus ride was scary coz it's almost 3hrs each way. But well, we find our own "entertainment" on the bus. Mekong Delta is a beautiful place and peaceful. People staying there are friendlier and more relax as compared to those staying in the city. We visited the floating market, cruise on the river, had traditional lunch, listen to vietnam culture folk song, buy local delights etc etc. Nice experience for Mom, Dad, Sis and Mom's friend (Irene auntie) and of course dear dear as well. The only sad thing was, it was raining that day but, nonetheless we still have lots of fun. After the tiring day, we head st towards the tailor when we reached HCM. We spent like 2 whole hours there and sis was definitely not happy. Tired, hungry and these make an angry person. I definitely do not want to have dinner with angry pple, so I sent the 4 of them off to have taiwanese style chinese dinner, while me and dear went to have our Pho 24! More shopping after that. And there's where I bought my victory item for the trip. Haha! Oh forgot to mention that Dad's the winner of all. He tailored a total of 8 tops! Beautiful, cheap and top notch material. He's a happy man.